Dennis Chavez

Dennis Chavez (8 April 1888-18 November 1962) was a member of the US House of Representatives (D-NM) from 4 March 1931 to 3 January 1935 (succeeding Albert G. Simms and preceding John J. Dempsey) and a US Senator from New Mexico from 11 May 1938 to 18 November 1962 (succeeding Bronson M. Cutting and preceding Edwin L. Mechem). He was the first New Mexico native to serve in the Senate, as well as the first Hispanic person elected to a full term in the Senate.

Biography
Dennis Chavez was born in Los Chavez, New Mexico in 1888, and he worked as a newspaper editor, as a court interpreter, and as a private contractor until 1916, when he obtained temporary employment as a Spanish interpreter for US Senator Andrieus A. Jones' election campaign. In 1917, he became an assistant executive clerk of the Senate in Washington DC, and he opened his own law practice in Albuquerque after leaving the capital. He served in the US House of Representatives from 1931 to 1935 as the Democratic congressman from New Mexico's at-large congressional district, and he was elected to the US Senate in 1938 after Bronson M. Cutting's tragic death in a plane crash. He served in the Senate until his death in office in 1962, having served for 27 consecutive years.